brown marmorated stink bug – opening-passage test boxes
To find out how small gaps or screens must be to keep brown marmorated stink bugs out of a home or building, research led by Benjamin Chambers, Ph.D., at Virginia Tech, was conducted by placing 30 brown marmorated stink bugs inside a sealed box with openings—either holes or slits—on the top and with a heat source placed below the box to stimulate their urge to leave. Different opening sizes were used across tests, and the number of stink bugs successfully exiting through the holes was observed. While 8 millimeter holes and 4 millimeter slits allowed many stink bugs to pass through, just one male adult stink bug was able to pass through a 7 millimeter hole, and none were able to pass through a 3 millimeter slit. (Image originally published in Chambers et al 2019, Journal of Economic Entomology)